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The Lion King Reborn
The Lion King Reborn is a 2019 American animated epic, adventure, musical, drama, and dark comedy film directed by Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers from a screenplay by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton, and Jeff Nathanson, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first film of the Disney Reborn Multiverse (DRM), and a remake of Disney's traditionally animated 1994 film. Based on the Lion King franchise, it will feature an ensemble voice cast that includes Matthew Broderick, Ernie Sabella, Jeremy Irons, Alfre Woodard, Nathan Lane, Rowan Atkinson, Robert Guillaume, Suzanne Pleshette, Lacey Chabert, Jason Marsden, Neve Campbell, Moira Kelly, and James Earl Jones. It features posthumous film performances by Pleshette, who died in January 2008 and Guillaume, who died in October 2017, and the film is dedicated to their memories. With the film co-produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, it is set to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on July 19 in the United States on YouTube in IMAX format, celebrating the 1994 film's 25th anniversary. Synopsis An unprecedented cinematic journey twenty-five years in the making and spanning of The Lion King, Scar seeks to take the mantle as King after he murders his brother Mufasa, and Simba, Kovu, Kiara, Nala, Rafiki, Timon, and Pumbaa must stop Scar and his follower Zira in a showdown before their onslaught of destruction puts an end to the Pride Lands. Plot A meerkat named Timon, who is a social outcast of his colony outskirts, "the Pit of Shame", dreams for more in life than his colony's bleak existence hiding from predators, but his daydreaming leads to the near-death of his Uncle Max by a trio of hyenas named Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. Timon leaves to find a better life, and meets a pig named Pumbaa, who suffers from demophobia-triggered flatulence problems. Although the two quickly form a bond and Pumbaa accompanies Timon as his acquaintance, they start living in a small oasis behind the landmark while King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi's newborn son Simba is presented to the crowded animals at a majestic place named Pride Rock. Mufasa shows young Simba the Pride Lands and explains to him the responsibilities of kingship and the Circle of Life which connects all living things. Meanwhile, Mufasa's younger and selfish brother Scar covets the throne and plots to eliminate Mufasa and Simba so he may become king. He and his henchmen of hyenas set a trap for his brother and nephew, luring Simba into a gorge and having the hyenas drive a large herd of wildebeest into a stampede that will trample him. Scar refuses to help Mufasa, instead sending him falling to his death, then convinces Simba that the tragedy was his own fault and advises him to flee the kingdom and never return. Scar tells the pride that Mufasa and Simba were killed in the stampede and steps forward as the new king. Meanwhile, Timon and Pumbaa finally settle in a huge luxurious green jungle. Sooner enough, they rescue Simba on a desert floor before they raise him under their philosophy of "Hakuna Matata" (meaning "no worries" in Swahili). Years later, Simba rescues Timon and Pumbaa from a hungry young adult lioness, who turns out to be his best friend Nala. She and Simba reunite and fall in love, and she argues with him to return home, telling him the Pride Lands have become a drought-stricken wasteland under Scar's reign. Feeling guilty over his father's death, Simba refuses and storms away. He encounters Mufasa's adviser Rafiki, who says that Mufasa's spirit lives on in Simba, and he is visited by the ghost of his father in the night sky, who tells him he must take his rightful place as king. Realizing he can no longer run from his past, Simba decides to return home. As Scar taunts Simba over his role in Mufasa's death, he backs his nephew to the edge of Pride Rock, where he reveals to Simba that he murdered Mufasa. Enraged, Simba pins Scar to the ground and forces him to reveal the truth to the rest of the pride. After Timon proposes that they all help Simba by getting rid of the hyenas, he, Pumbaa, Nala, Sarabi, Zazu, Rafiki, and the other lionesses fend off the hyenas, alongside Timon's Ma and Max, who are directed to construct a series of tunnels beneath the hyenas. When the tunnels are finished, Max knocks down the sticks, the cave-in commences, and the hyenas are ejected through the tunnels. Scar begs for mercy and attempts to blame the hyenas for his actions, but Simba spares his life and orders him to leave the Pride Lands forever. Scar suddenly attacks his nephew, but Simba manages to toss him from the top of Pride Rock. Scar survives the fall, but then gets eaten by his former henchmen of hyenas, because one overheard him betray them to Simba. With his enemies gone, Simba takes over the kingship as the rains begin to fall, restoring life to the land; Timon takes his entire meerkat colony to live in predator-free environment to complete his "Hakuna Matata"; Nala gives birth to a newborn cub; and she is presented to the assembled animals. Rafiki paints an emblem of the cub on the trunk of his tree, but Mufasa's spirit ruffles the painting, making him discover another cub that's living in rogues known as the "Outlands" named Kovu. A few weeks later, Kiara becomes annoyed with her father's overprotective parenting and enters the Outlands, where she meets Kovu. His mother Zira reminds Simba of how he exiled her and the other Outsiders, and reveals that Scar selected Kovu to be his successor despite not being his biological father. After returning to the Pride Lands, Simba lectures Kiara about the danger posed by the Outsiders, and reminds her they are part of each other. In the Outlands, Zira reminds Kovu that Simba killed Scar and exiled the lions who respect him. Kovu explains that he does not think it is so bad to have Kiara as a friend, but Zira realizes that she can use Kovu's friendship with Kiara to seek revenge on Simba. Several years later, Kiara, now a young adult, begins her first solo hunt. As part of Zira's plan, Kovu's siblings Nuka and Vitani trap Kiara in a fire, allowing Kovu to rescue her. Simba is forced to accept Kovu's place since he rescued Kiara. Kovu contemplates attacking Simba as he was instructed to, but he teaches Kiara how to hunt instead and eventually realizes his feelings for her. Later, Kiara and Kovu stargaze where they talk about the Great Kings of the Past and Kovu wonders if there is a darkness in him like there was in Scar. That night, Simba allows Kovu to sleep inside Pride Rock with the rest of the pride, but because of this, Zira sets a trap for her son and Simba. The next day, Kovu once again tries to reveal his mission to Kiara, but Simba takes him around the Pride Lands and tells him Scar's story. The Outsiders then ambush Simba, resulting in Nuka's death from a log pile and Simba's escape. Enraged, Zira scratches Kovu for his brother's death, causing him to turn against her. Kovu returns to Pride Rock to asks Simba for his forgiveness, but is exiled. Kiara makes Simba realize that he is acting irrationally, and flees to find Kovu. The two lions later find each other and profess their love. Realizing that they must reunite the two prides, Kiara and Kovu return to the Pride Lands and convince them to stop fighting. When Zira attempts to kill Simba, Kiara intervenes and Zira falls to her death. With his enemy gone, Simba accepts Kovu and the Outsiders back into the Pride Lands. Voice cast * Matthew Broderick as Simba An African lion, son of Mufasa and Sarabi, who is the crown prince of the Pride Lands. Simba later becomes Nala's husband, and Kiara's overprotective father. Cam Clarke and Joseph Williams provide the character's singing voice. ** Jonathan Taylor Thomas as young Simba (archive recordings). Evan Saucedo and Jason Weaver provide the cub's singing voice. * Nathan Lane as Timon A comedic meerkat, who becomes Pumbaa's best friend and one of Simba's adoptive parents. Though somewhat selfish, arrogant, and withdrawn, Timon shows courageous loyalty towards his friends. * Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa A naïve, but hearten common warthog, who becomes Timon's symbiotic partner and one of Simba's adoptive parents. Though slow-witted, Pumbaa is very empathetic and willing to trust and befriend anyone. He is also claustrophobic and passes gas in crowds. * Jeremy Irons as Scar Mufasa's treacherous younger brother, Simba's uncle and Kiara's granduncle, who overtakes the throne and seeks to take the mantle of king. * Moira Kelly as Nala A lioness, who is Simba's best friend and later his future love-interest, Queen of the Pride Lands, and Kiara's mother. Heather Headley, who returns from the Broadway production, will provide Nala's singing voice. ** Niketa Calame-Harris as young Nala. Harris has returned to voice young Nala since 25 years after 1994. Laura Williams provides the cub's singing voice. * James Earl Jones as Mufasa Simba's father, Scar's older brother, and King of the Pride Lands, as the film begins. * Suzanne Pleshette as Zira The leader of the Outsiders, Scar's most loyal follower and Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu's widowed mother. * Robert Guillaume as Rafiki A wise mandrill, who teaches Timon Hakuna Matata, as well as giving him faith in himself to do what he dreams of doing. Rafiki also serves as shaman of the lion king to present newborn cubs of the King and Queen to the animals of the Pride Lands. * Rowan Atkinson as Zazu A red-billed hornbill, who serves as the lion king's majordomo (or "Mufasa's little stooge", as Shenzi calls him). Jeff Bennett provides the character's singing voice. * Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi The sassy and short-tempered female leader of her hyena clan. * Jim Cummings as Ed An unhinged hysterical hyena, who laughs a lot and is Scar's henchman. * Jason Marsden as Kovu A lion living in the Outlands, who is Zira's son, Nuka and Vitani's younger brother, and the chosen successor of Scar to become King of the Pride Lands. Kenny Lattimore will provide adult Kovu's singing voice. ** Ryan O'Donohue as cub Kovu (archive recordings) * Neve Campbell as Kiara A lioness, and the daughter of Simba and Nala, who grows up to become future Queen of the Pride Lands. Liz Callaway provides adult Kiara's singing voice. ** Michelle Horn as cub Kiara (archive recordings). Charity Sanoy provides the cub's singing voice. * Lacey Chabert as Vitani Zira's aggressive and spunky daughter, and Nuka and Kovu's sister. Lynn replaces the retired Jennifer Lien from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Crysta Macalush Winton provides the cub's singing voice. * Alfre Woodard as Sarabi The Queen of Pride Rock, who is Mufasa's devoted mate, Simba's mother, and the leader of the lioness hunting party. * Julie Kavner as Timon's Ma Timon's caring mother. She is overly protective and attached to her son, often trying to get him accepted amongst the colony, but never succeeding. * Jerry Stiller as Uncle Max Timon's paranoid, eccentric but deep down kind-hearted uncle. He initially doubts Timon's ability, but warms up to him at the film's climax. * Cheech Marin as Banzai An aggressive and hot-headed Mexican-accent hyena prone to complaining and acting on impulse, who is Scar's henchman. * Andy Dick as Nuka Zira's son, Vitani and Kovu's older brother and the oldest male of Zira's family. * Zoe Leader as Sarafina A lioness friend of Sarabi and Nala's mother. * S. Scott Bullock as Fred A meerkat and the former best friend of Timon. He loves to laugh and play around, as well as pulling practical jokes. He used to visit Timon from time to time, usually to pull a prank on him. Bullock reprises his role from the television series The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa, marking the first time a character introduced in a Disney television series appears in an Disney film. * Jeff Bennett as Iron Joe A meerkat, who is formerly on sentry duty before Timon takes his role. * Jason Rudofsky as Flinchy An unseen meerkat part of Timon's colony. For the "Special Edition" release of the film, Brian Tochi, Phil LaMarr, Amy Sedaris, Chance Bennett, Josh McCrary, and J. Lee will have minor voice roles as a fighting hyena, an impala, a guinea fowl, a galago, an elephant shrew, and a hyena part of Shenzi's clan. Tress MacNeille and Jeff Bennett were set to reprise their voice roles as Princess Tatiana and the Duke Meerkat from The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa, but it appears this scene did not make the theatrical cut of the film. Max Charles, Joshua Rush, Dusan Brown, Diamond White, and Atticus Shaffer were also set to reprise their roles as Kion, Bunga, Beshte, Fuli, and Ono from The Lion Guard as the film's secondary protagonists, but were immediately cut for a reboot series of the Lion Guard. Although they won't appear in the final cut of the film, they have been in early promos, including the official trailer reaction. Fearless Buzz, a less complicated character removed from post-production, reportedly also appears with a "mystery" role as Timon's Pa. Appearances Production Development The film was originally planned as a "director's cut" to be released in summer of 2017, known as The Lion King: The Special Edition Cut. The film includes the 1994 original release of The Lion King, its 1998 sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, and its 2004 midquel/prequel The Lion King 1½. Casting In mid-February 2017, Matthew Broderick and James Earl Jones were cast as Simba and Mufasa, with the duo reprising their roles from the 1994 film. In April, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella were in talks to reprising their roles as Timon and Pumbaa respectively. In July, Rowan Atkinson was cast to return as Zazu. In August, Julie Kavner was cast to reprise her role as Timon's Ma with Jerry Stiller in talks to return as Uncle Max. In mid-February 2018, Jeremy Irons, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Cummings, Jason Marsden, Andy Dick, and Lacey Chabert were all cast to reprise the voices of Scar, Banzai, Shenzi, Ed, Kovu, Nuka, and young Vitani from the 1994 film and Simba's Pride. Later in June, Niketa Calame-Harris was confirmed to return as young Nala after 25 years. Archive recordings of the late Robert Guillaume and Suzanne Pleshette, as well as Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Michelle Horn, and Ryan O'Donohue as Rafiki, Zira, young Simba, Kiara, and Kovu will be included respectively. On October 20, Alfre Woodard was announced to voice Sarabi, returning from her time on the 2019 live-action/CGI remake that would be released next year. On March 2019, Neve Campbell was cast to voice adult Kiara once again from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, and Moira Kelly's role as Nala was confirmed in an official announcement, replacing Gabrielle Union from the summer of 2018. On July 4, Lacey Chabert was confirmed to replace Meredith Scott Lynn to voice Vitani as an adult rather than as a cub. However, Lynn was credited as Chabert's substitute for her character. Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner, who voice Timon and Pumbaa in the live-action remake, and as well as Rob Lowe, who voices Simba in The Lion Guard, provided background choruses during the musical number of "Hakuna Matata". Production Production on the film commenced in the summer of 2017 in Los Angeles, California, using "a lot of virtual-reality tools" per Visual Effects Supervisor Rob Legato. It has been confirmed that the film will have a runtime of 3 hours and 24 minutes long. Post-production The film dedicates to the memories of Pleshette and Guillaume. This also dedicates and marks one of the final credits for film editor Mark Livolsi, who died on September 23, 2018, Zoe Leader, Sarafina's voice actress, Madge Sinclair, Sarabi's original voice actress, and British actor William Morgan Sheppard, who died in January 6, 2019, and provided the voice of Captain Bloodbeard in The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa. Visual effects The visual effects are provided by DisneyToon Studios and the Moving Picture Company, as well as supervised by Elliot Newman, Robert Legato and Adam Valdez. Music On November 1, 2017, it was announced that Hans Zimmer would return to write the film's score, having previously scored the 1994 animated version. 27 days later, it was reported that Elton John had signed onto the project to rework his musical compositions shortly before his retirement. The film is expected to have songs from previous Lion King films, including "Digga Tunnah", "That's All I Need" (which is now under the sister name of "Meerkat Rhapsody"), "Circle of Life", "I Just Can't Wait to be King", "Be Prepared", "Hakuna Matata", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", "Busa", "The Hawaiian War Chant", "He Lives in You", "We Are One", "My Lullaby", "Upendi", "Not One of Us", "Love Will Find a Way", and as well as "The Morning Report" from the Broadway production, "Lala" from Rhythm of the Pride Lands, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly original theme song composed by Ennio Morricone, "Sunrise, Sunset" from the musical Fiddler on the Roof, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" performed by The Tokens, and the opening theme song from Peter Gunn. New tracks includes two Swahili songs written by Tim Rice: "Rafiki Huomboleza", which is heard when Rafiki smears the painting of Simba, and an instrumental theme for "Lullaby ya Sarabi", which is heard as Sarabi cleans her cub. Also, Zazu briefly murmurs "Nobody Knows" sung by Louis Armstrong, "It's a Small World (After All)" written by the Sherman Brothers, and "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" performed by Fred Heatherton. Marketing On 25 December 2018, the official teaser trailer was released. A day later, a teaser trailer reaction promoted, featuring Simba, Bunga, Timon and Pumbaa watching on their own Blu-Ray 3D set. The official trailer was released on 13 June 2019, two days away before the 1994 film's 25th anniversary. Release The film was originally going to be released in August 2017. One year later, its production would be moved up and was set to be released in June 15, 2019 in honor to celebrate the 1994 film's 25th anniversary, and finally July 19 where the live-action remake will be released on that day also. Rating The Lion King Reborn was originally going to be rated G by the MPAA, and it would have been the first family-friendly title with a G rating in a long time. However, the film was later re-rated PG likely due to the serious yet deeper tone and mild crude humor, including Pumbaa's flatulence problems throughout the storyline. Videos Trailer File:The_Lion_King_Reborn_Official_Trailer_Experience_it_in_IMAX® Full Movie File:The_Lion_King_Reborn_-_Original_Release_(*READ_DESCRIPTION_BELOW*) Chapters * Prologue: Timon and Pumbaa are not Dead * Chapter 1: The Circle of Life * Chapter 2: I Just Can't Wait to be King * Chapter 3: Be Prepared * Chapter 4: To Die For * Chapter 5: Hakuna Matata * Chapter 6: The Madness of King Scar * Chapter 7: Can You Feel the Love Tonight * Chapter 8: The Battle for Pride Rock * Chapter 9: He Lives in You * Chapter 10: We Are One * Chapter 11: Kiara's First Hunt * Chapter 12: The Unwelcome Stranger * Chapter 13: Love Will Find a Way * Chapter 14: Pride Lander-Outlander Battle External links * The Lion King Reborn on the [https://ideas.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lion_King_Reborn Ideas Wikia] Category:Fanfiction Category:Myers' Fanfics Category:WindowsMyers2018 Category:Films